Metal chalcogenides generally refer to metal sulfides, metal selenides and metal tellurides. These materials can have desirable properties for the formation of functional elements. For example, some of these materials are phosphors and/or semiconductors. Due to the functional properties of some of these materials, there is significant commercial interest in these materials for appropriate applications. The quality of the materials can be significant with respect to the ability to produce desired commercial products. At the same time, commercial pressures to produce goods at lower costs create separate challenges.
Semiconductors are an important class of commercial materials. In particular silicon semiconductors find wide use in electronics as well as for other semiconductor applications. However, other semiconductors also find wide commercial use. With the rapid growth of alternative energy sources in view of rising energy costs, significant commercial importance of semiconductors also extends to applications in the formation of solar cells. In solar cells, semiconductors function to generate a photocurrent that is harvested to provide useful work. For solar applications, the semiconductor band gap can be selected for the absorption of appropriate light wavelengths for natural solar light.